Machine for sorting



S. CHIGER Sept. 5, 1933.

MACHINE FOR SORTING, COUNTING, AND PACKING COINS Filed Nov. 16, 1929Patented Sept. 5, 1933 PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR ,SORTING, COUNTING,PACKING COINS Siegmund Chiger, Berlin, Germany, assignor to firm: G. Z.M. Patentverwertung Aktiengesellschaft, Glarus, Switzerland ApplicationNovember 16, 1929 Serial No. 407,620

2 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for the counting and packaging ofcoins, and has generally in view to provide an improved apparatus forthis purpose. v

In the packaging of coins it is usual to provide packages containingdifferent numbers of coins of totaling different predetermined amounts.

Different types of apparatus for the counting and packaging of coins ofdifferent denominations and in different amounts are known.

However, in the use of known types of such apparatus and when it isdesired to change from the counting and packaging of any given number ofcoins of any given denomination to the counting and packaging of adifferent number of coins of the same or another denomination, theoperator generally is required to effect-separate manual adjustments ofdifferent parts of the apparatus. This frequently results in errors andirregularities which it is extremely desirable to avoid. Accordingly,the general object of the invention is to provide a coin countingand'packaging apparatus embodying means whereby a single manualadjustment of the apparatus adapts it for counting and packaging apredetermined number of coins of any given denomination Wherebyanychance of error or irregularity in respect to this phase of theoperation of the apparatus is entirely avoided.

Various other objects as well, as the nature and the advantages of thepresent apparatus will become more fully apparent j from a perusal ofthe following detailed description of the same considered in connectionwith the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of one practicable formof apparatus embodying the novel features of the invention. I

Figure 2 is a top plan view; and Q Figure 3 is a detail vertical sectionillustrating a clutch element of; the apparatus and the control meanstherefor.

Referring to the drawing in detail, 1 designates a horizontally disposedbase plate having suitably fixed thereto a vertically disposed disk orplate 2 in which is formed a plurality of holes 3. J ournaled insuitable bearings carried by the base plate 1 is a shaft 4 which extendshorizontally below said base plate and at its outer end carries a crank5. The holes 3 in the disk or plate 2 are spaced equidistantly radiallyfrom the shaft 4 and different distances apart circumferentially, andare, adapted to be selectively engaged by a pin 6 slidably engaged inthe handle 8 of the crank 5, said'pin being constantly urged inward by aspring 7 so as to be projected into any one of the holes 3 in the diskor plate 2 with which it may become alined by reason of rotation of thecrank 5, and a button being provided on the outerend of said pin wherebythe same may be retracted to permit rotation of the crank 5 1 and theshaft, 4.

On the shaft 4 is fixed a pinion 9 which meshes with a rack 10 carriedby a vertically disposed sleeve 11 which is suitably mounted forvertical sliding movement relative to'the base plate 1 and which carriesat its upper end, above said base plate, a table 12 on whichis'supported a horizontally disposed disk 13 carrying an annular seriesof vertically disposed tubes 14 for the reception of coin wrapper tubesdesignated as 48.

Also fixed on the shaft 4 is a bevel gear 15 which meshes with acompanion bevel gear 16 fixed to a vertical shaft 17 which extends'atits upper end through a horizontally disposed plate 21 and above saidplate has fixed thereto a horizontally disposed cam disk 18 adapted foractuating a rackbar 19.

The rack bar 19 is horizontally disposed and suitably mounted in the.plate 21 for longitudinal sliding movement, the same meshing with apinion 23 formed either directly as a part of a vertical stub shaft 22or separately from said shaft and suitably fixed thereto.

The stub shaft 22 is rotatably mounted in the plate 21 and has fixedthereto a hollow drum 24 within which is housed a helical spring 25 oneend of which is secured as at 27 to the drum or the shaft and the otherend of which is'anchored asat 26 to the plate 21, whereby, whenever theshaft 22 is rotated against the force of said spring and subsequentlyreleased, the-spring operates to return said shaft toa normal position.

Fixed to the drum 24 at the top thereof is a horizontally disposed diskor segment 28 having a series of. peripheral notchesor recesses,preferably totaling ten in number, formed therein, while fixed to saiddrum at the bottom thereof is a horizontally disposed disk or segment 29likewise provided with a series of peripheral notches or recessespreferably totaling ten in number and also provided with a tooth orprojection 39 at one end of saidseries of recesses.

Pivoted intermediately, as at 33, to the plate 21 is a lever 31 one endof which is formed, as at V a vertically disposed clutch control lever47 intermediately pivoted to the plate 21 and extending at its lower endbelow said plate.

The clutch control lever 4'7 is operatively engaged at its lower endwith a clutch element 19 slidably and non-rotatably mounted on asuitably driven horizontally disposed shaft a and a companion clutchelement b is formed as part of or is fixed to a sleeve 6 in which saidshaft 0, is mounted for rotation, the clutch element 19 being normallyurged away from or maintained disengaged from said clutch element 22' bymeans of a coil spring b2 interposed between said clutch elements.

Fixed to the sleeve e is a bevel gear which meshes with a bevel gear 9fixed to the lower end of a short vertical shaft 46' suitably journaledin the plate 21, said shaft 46 having fixed thereto, above said plate, asegmental gear ,39 for cooperation with a gear (1 fixed to the upper endof a vertical shaft 0 which, at its lower end, is keyed to the sleeve11.

On the segmental gear 39 is a pin or lug which is adapted forcooperation with the free end ofa latch arm 35, said arm extendinghorizontally across the lever 31 and at its other end being pivoted, asat 36, to the plate 21.

On the lever 31 is a pin or lug 34 against which the arm 35 is urged bya coil spring 37 fastened at one end to said arm and at its other end tothe plate 21, and in the side of said latch arm nearest the lug 34 isformed a notch 35 toreceive the lug 34 when the adjacent end of thelever 31 is swung'towards the pivoted end of said latch arm.

The top of the plate 21 is recessed to receive a counting wheel 42 and acoin feed disk 45, the

disk being fixed to a shaft 44 suitably driven in timed relation to thedriven shaft a, and the counting wheel 42 being secured to a stub shaft41 journaled in the plate 21.

The coins to be counted and packaged are adapted to be fed between theperiphery of the disk 45 and the side wall of the recess in which saiddisk is disposed, and are adapted to be pushed one by one by one or morefingers 45 on said disk into register with a hole 46 formed through theplate 21, through which hole they are adapted to fall and to be guidedby a chute 47 into a wrapper tube 48 which is disposed in coin receivingrelation to the discharge end of said tube.

The counting wheel 42 is provided with a se- 7 ries of peripheralrecesses preferably totaling ten in number, and said wheel is disposedas shown relatively to the coin feed disk 45 and the hole 46 so that aseach coin is advanced towards said opening it engages a recess of saidcounting wheel and rotates the same through an angle equivalent to thecircumferential spacing of each adjacent pair of said recesses.

Fixed to the shaft 41 is an arm 43 which, by

rotation of said shaft as eifected by the coins engaging with therecesses of the counting wheel 42, is adapted, once during each completerotation of said shaft, to engage one of the recesses of the disk 28 andto advance or rotate the same through an angle equivalent to the spacingof any adjacent pair of the recesses in said disk.

Rotation of the shaft 4 is adapted, through the cam 18, to push therack'bar 19 to a position to set or adjust the recessed disks 28 and 29to a normal position in readiness to begin the counting and packaging ofcoins of any particular denomination; also, rotation of the shaft 4 isadapted, through the gear 9 and rack 10, to elevate or lower the sleeve11 to dispose the wrappers 48 at a proper elevation to receive coinsfrom the chute 47 depending upon the height of said wrappers asdetermined by the denomination of the coins to be counted and packaged.In this connection it is pointed out that the holes 3 in the plate ordisk 2 are so located, and that the gear 9 is of such diameter, and thedifferent portions of the cam 18 of such design, that when the shaft 4is rotated to bring the pin 6 into alinement with any particular hole 3in the plate 2 the rack bar 9 is moved an amount to place the recesseddisks 28, 29 in a correct position for the beginning of counting of apredetermined number of coins and the sleeve 11 is raised or lowered anamount to correctly position the upper ends of the wrappers 48 relativeto the discharge end of the chute 47 to receive the said predeterminednumber of coins.

Since the counting wheel has preferably ten peripheral recesses it isapparent that the passing of ten coins into the hole 48 effects onecomplete revolution of the shaft 41 and the advancement or rotation ofthe disks 28, 29 one notch or recess in the direction of the arrow cc.Assuming now that the of coins to be placed in each. package to total acertain amount is fifty, it is ap arent that five complete rotations ofthe counth wheel 42 is necessary to permit this number of ccins to befed to and through the hcle 48. And when fifty coins have been fedto oneof the wrappers 48 it obviously is necessary that this wrapper be movedaway from the delivery of the chut 47 and a new wrapper brought intocoin receiving relation to. said chute, th. being one of the importantfunctions of the present apparatus. If, as stated, the number of coinsto be placed in each package is fifty, the adjustment of the shaft 4 tothe proper rotated position will result in movement of the rack bar 19by the cam 18 to advance or rotate the recessed disk 28 until only fiveof the recesses thereof remain to be engaged by the arm 43. Asaforesaid, each revolution of the counting wheel 42 advances the disk 28one notch, and as said Wheel is thus advanced it is held against returnmovement under the influence of the spring 25 by the end 32 of the lever31 engaging a notch or recess of the wheel 29, said lever beingconstantly urged to a position to accomplish this function by a spring31a. As the disk 28 is advanced the spring 25 is energized, and aftersaid disk has been advanced the five notches remaining after its initialadjustment by the cam 18, the tooth 38 comes into operation to engagethe-end 32 of the lever 31 and to swing said end of said lever away fromthe disk 29, thereby releasing said disk and'permitting thesame to bereturned by the spring 25 to its normal starting position as determinedby the adjustment of the cam 18. When the end 32 of the lever 31 isswung outward by the tooth 30 its other end is swung towards and intocontact with the upper end of the clutch control lever 4'2, therebyswinging said lever and causing its lower end to shift the clutchelement b along the shaft a into engagement with the clutch element 1).When this occurs, rotation of the shaft a imparts rotation to the shaft46' and to the segmental gear 39, causing said gear to engage the gearcl and to rotate the shaft 0 an amount to bring a new wrapper 48 intocoin receiving relation to the chute 47. This occurs immediatelyfollowing release of the disk 29 and during only fractional rotation ofthe feed disk 45, so that a new wrapper 48 is brought into coinreceiving relation to the chute 47 after the last coin has beendelivered to one wrapper and before the first coin is delivered to thenew wrapper. When the end 32 of the lever 31 is swung outward by thetooth 30 and its opposite end thus is swung to engage and actuate theclutch control lever 47, the pin or lug 34 is moved into alinement withthe-notch 35' in the latch arm 35 and said arm is pulled by the spring'37 to cause said notch to receive said pin or lug, thereby locking thelever 31 in a position holding the clutch element b temporarily engagedwith the clutch element b. The pin or lug 40 on the gear 39 normally isdisposed so that said gear may make substantially a complete rotationbefore said pin or lug engages the free end of the latch arm 35.Consequently, following pivotal movement of the lever 31 to engage'andactuate the clutch lever '47 the gear 39 makes a substantially completerevolution and at the termination thereof the pin or lug 40 engages thefree end of the latch arm 35 and swings the same to release the pin orlug 34 from the notch 35'. Thereupon the lever 31 is released andreturned to its normal position by the spring 31a and the clutch elementI) automatically becomes disengaged from the clutch element b, stoppingrotation of the shafts 46 and 0 immediately after the lug 40 has passedby the end of the arm 35. Thus the apparatus is reset to begin thecounting and delivery of another fifty coins to the new Wrapper 48brought into coin receiving position. The apparatus operates in the samemanner for coins of any denomination, and as the wrappers 48 aresuccessively filled with the proper number of coins they are folded andsealed in any suitable or desired manner.

I claim:

1. Mechanism of the class described comprising coin counting meanshaving a zero position, delivery means for the counted coins, a tablefor supporting containers into which the counted coins are adapted to bedelivered, automatic means for returning said coin counting means tozero position following each successive counting of a predeterminednumber of coins by said means, a device adjustable to a plurality ofdifferent positions, and means whereby adjustment of said device toanyone of said positions eiTects adjustments of said mechanism topredetermine the number of coins counted during each cycle of operationof said counting means and simultaneously adjusts the spacing of saidtable relative to said coin delivery means.

2. Mechanism of the character described comprising coin feed means, awheel having peripheral recesses adapted to be engaged by the coins toeffect intermittent rotation of said wheel, a second peripherallyrecessed wheel, a cam on the first wheel adapted during each completerotation of said first mentioned wheel to engage successive recesses ofthe second wheel and correspondingly rotate said second mentioned wheel,said wheels having 'zero positions, means constantly tending to returnsaid second mentioned wheel to its zero position, a device adjustable toa plurality of different positions, trip means normally holding saidsecond mentioned wheel against return to its zero position, meanswhereby rotation of said second mentioned wheel effects release of saidtrip means, and means whereby adjustment of said device to any one ofits aforesaid positions eifects adjustments of said mechanism topredetermine the amount of rotation of said second mentioned wheelnecessary to efiect release of said trip device, thereby to predeterminethe number of coins counted during each cycle of operation of thecounting 11

